Yerevan, August 24 /Mediamax/. The Commission on Regulation of Public Services (CRPS) of Armenia made a decision today, according to which “ArmenTel” Telecommunication Company will lose all its monopoly rights on October 1 of 2007.

Mediamax reports that, by another decision, the CRPS assessed as the existing tariffs for the fixed telephone connection “balanced”.

As the Chairman of the CRPS Robert Nazarian stated, in the course of the 45-day negotiation process the specialists of the Commission came to the conclusion that some of the calculations, presented by “ArmenTel”, are not grounded, and the CRPS made a decision to operatively solve the issue of liberalization of the telecommunications market of Armenia, and only after that return to the issue of reconsideration of the tariffs.

Robert Nazarian also noted that during the negotiations with the representatives of “ArmenTel”, an agreement was reached on not changing the existing tariffs in the course of six months following October 1 of 2007.

The General Director of “ArmenTel” Oleg Bliznyuk stated today that the new tariffs, proposed by the Company, were the most optimal ones both for “ArmenTel” and for the subscribers, and that the decision of CRPS on not accepting a number of arguments of the company was ungrounded.

Oleg Bliznyuk stressed that the renouncement of monopoly is a demonstration of good will by “ArmenTel”. He noted that starting from October 1, it will become an “absolutely commercial” Company, however, this does not mean that “ArmenTel” will renounce its social programs for pensioners and needy layers of the population.

Talking about the coming developments in the telecommunication sphere in Armenia, Oleg Bliznyuk noted that “there will be no universal happiness on October 1, and it is very important that the market become not only free, but also a civilized”.

“Everything changes, and everyone changes. Here the bride did not want to get married, but the most important thing is not to be left on the shelf, and she got attracted to money. We want to become a real man, but some want to get married”, General Director of “ArmenTel” noted.

Mediamax recalls that on July 12 the General Director of the Armenian VivaCell mobile operator Ralph Yirikian refuted the statements on the possible sale of the Company. He compared VivaCell “to an 18-year-old young lady, who has many worshippers, who want to tie their lives with hers”. However, he noted, “the lady does not want to get married, but she wants to realize her plans”. Lately, there were a number of statements appearing, according to which the Russian MTS mobile operator is holding negotiations on the purchase of VivaCell.